Lost
by Night Seraph
Summary: Something lost, now is found....but will it stay that way?
1. 1

A lone figure, dressed in boy's clothes and partially hidden by shadows, stood across the street from the Manhattan Newsboy's Lodging House, watching as boys of all shapes and sizes laughed, jumped, trudged, and stumbled their way indoors. One in particular caught the figure's eye – a short, black-haired boy with a jaunty step and a whistling tune. He was with a couple of other boys, all laughing and generally full of comradery. If possible, the figure's eyes darkened farther as it pushed off the doorframe it'd been leaning against and walked away. The figure entered a building, only to walk out again in a few minutes, now garbed in a low-cut dress, stained in some places, neatly mended in others. She gathered a deep breath (to the delight of some passers-by) and began to walk towards a second figure that had been following her closely the whole time, ready to collect payment before any of his customers took delight in the "product" he was selling.  
  
The next day, around noon, most of the Manhattan newsies were gathered around the statue of Horace Greeley, most waiting for the surrounding businesses to let out for lunch. Racetrack, having disposed of his papers earlier that morning, was trying to set up a dice game so he could make money with which to place his bets for that afternoon. Unable to find anyone willing to lose to his slight-of-hand, he began to walk merrily towards the tracks, calculating the profits he would have made on the horses he would have bet on. Turning down an alley, he felt a hand close on his collar as he was suddenly pushed straight towards the side of a building. Head spinning, he whirled around (which didn't exactly do wonders for his head), fists upraised to block a coming punch. When the expected attack did not come he cautiously lowered his arms and raised his head to find himself staring at a petite female in a conservative brown skirt and blue blouse. As he was instinctively admiring her more feminine attributes, her face slowly registered, as did her voice and what she was saying… "Hello big brother."  
  
Recoiling, Race shook his head, while thumping it with the heel of his hand to clear the thought that had been about to form. "Janey?" he gasped incredulously, "Is that really you?"  
  
"Considering your other sister is only 8, I would have to say I'm the only one tall enough to still call you that," said the girl icily.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Race asked joyfully, reaching out to embrace her, "I haven't seen you in …"  
  
"3 years, 9 months, next Tuesday," said Janey, smoothly stepping away from his arms. "However," she continued, "This isn't a pleasure call…just thought you'd like to know, Mom's dying."  
  
Racetrack sank to his knees, stunned, and leaned against the wall….which reminded him… "How…Is that why you gave me such a greeting?! Janey, I'm so sorry, I didn't know…"  
  
"Why should you?" Janey bit back angrily. "Its not like we've seen you since you ran away, you never come home, never write, why should you know about Mom, or Dad, for that matter….not that you'd care, but…"  
  
"What about Dad?" Racetrack asked quietly, not knowing what to expect, or even what he wanted to expect.  
  
Janey laughed bitterly, "He's been dead for over 2 years now. Supposedly slipped while working over by the docks…probably just got too active with that switch," she shrugged, uncaring, and continued coldly, "You know the one, woven thick and metal-tipped at one end, the wires on the other…"  
  
"I remember," Race cut her off harshly, defensive now that his sister's cold sarcasm had begun to sink in. " So why didn't you find me then, I could have come home and helped…"  
  
Race was cut off as Janey reared back and gave him a full-armed slap. "We were suppose to find you?!?!" she shrieked incredulously, "You left us Nickolas! Where were you checking up on us to see if we needed help, or to say hi, or even to make sure Mom knew you were alright?!?!?"  
  
"I couldn't go back there, Janey, you know that," Race cried, his voice full of pain, for her, for his memories, and for what she was doing to him.  
  
"No, Nick," Janey said accusingly, "I know you didn't want to come back, and we all paid the price for it."  
  
"What do you mean? If Dad died you all should have been fine…" Race replied, confused.  
  
"Yeah right, RACE," Janey sneered, " Dad made most of the money, remember? You and I might have been used to going hungry, but Patrica and William were so young….they both take care of some rich folk's pets after they go to school…there's no way I'm putting them to work this young," she said angrily, "even if…" she cut off abruptly.  
  
"If what?" Race said, desperate to know, "Janey, what happened?"  
  
Janey firmed her shoulders, straightened her spine and said, " Mom's not going to live, Nick, if you want to come see her it has to be now…otherwise I'm not coming back for you again."  
  
"Lead the way," Race said somberly.  
  
Janey did lead the way, down several dozen blocks, Race paled as the streets grew dirtier and more crowded. As she turned down the final street and led Race up a few steps, an old gray-haired woman stopped her with "You know there's no more room, girl, and I don't hold with none of that business here."  
  
Janey reddened, but kept her composure, while Race's attention was bewildered by his surroundings. In a low voice she replied, "Its alright, Mrs. Kapowalski, he's just here to see Mom."  
  
"Hrmph," snorted the woman, but she let them pass.  
  
"What was that about?" asked Race.  
  
"None of your business," snapped Janey as she led them up several flights of stairs.  
  
"What do you mean 'none of my business,'" cried Racetrack as he rushed to follow her, "You're my family, I've got a right to kn…."  
  
"No you don't!!" screamed Janey, finally losing patience with him, "You lost that right 3 years ago when you walked out on us…..no, cheated to walk out on us."  
  
"I had no choice, " yelled Racetrack, "Dad was…"  
  
"Dad was what, Nick? Beating you? Well he beat me too, and William, although he doesn't remember much. You left Nick, and believe me it got a lot worse afterwards." She pushed up her skirt to her knee, where a collection of quarter-sized burn scars greeted Race's horrified eyes. "The cigars you both like so much….lets just say he stopped using ashtrays."  
  
"William?…Patty?" Race gasped, unthinkingly.  
  
"They've each got a few…not so many after Mom and I started hiding them from him, but enough for them to never wish he was still here." She replied, steadily meeting his gaze with a cold one of her own.  
  
"You gotta believe me," Race fell to his knees, pleading for his baby sister's forgiveness, "I didn't know…"  
  
"You never tried to find out," She said scoffed.  
  
"No!" Race shouted, "I came back…once, about six months later,…and saw you…all of you, sitting around the table, laughing, happy" Race continued brokenly, "I just…figured I'd done the right thing." He trailed of quietly.  
  
"Yeah," Janey sneered, "there were some times like that, once every few months work went well and he forgot to stop by the pub on his way home…..After you'd been gone a year they stopped happening altogether."  
  
"Janey," Race began, "I am so sorry, you have to believe me."  
  
"No, I don't." she said firmly. "You remember that night as well as I do: Dad had finally stopped hitting you…passed out on the floor and Mom dropped off to sleep from nervous exhaustion, all the while using her body to shield Patrica and William. I caught you with a bundle under your arm and a foot out the door."  
  
"Yeah," Race grinned, "You challenged me to a single game of 5-card stud, winner take all."  
  
"I dealt," she said bitterly, "thought I was going to win the whole time….I had a full house, 3 7's and 2 jacks….then you laid down a royal flush." She began to snicker, "Stupid me actually thought luck had been with you that night, maybe you were suppose to leave…..then I find out the deck suddenly has an extra set of crowns. You cheated on the most important game I ever played….and now tell me I have to believe you…." She let out a short, sarcastic bark of laughter, eyes never leaving doubt as to their feelings about him.  
  
Race had the decency to flush bright red, mumbling, "I had to get outta there Janey….I had to."  
  
"Yeah well, you got out….that was then, this is now and this is it. You've got one hour before I go to pick the kids up from school…don't be here when we get back."  
  
"Why?" Race protested, "they're my brother and sister too, Janey, I want to see them."  
  
"You lost all your rights the night you laid down those cards," she scream at him, "and until you have the smallest understanding of how many nights William waited by the door for you to come home, you will not see him, or Patty, again!" She smoothed her skirt and calmed her voice until it made the inside of an icebox sound cozy, "Now, your time's wasting, why don't you make good what you have."  
  
Stunned, Racetrack nodded and entered the door they had, unbeknownst to him, stopped in front of while fighting. Janey did not follow him. Slowly he looked around the two-room flat – he was standing in the kitchen area – which was clean for all that it was bare except for a few pallets on the floor and a box of mismatched dishes and utensils. He went through the curtain that hung in the doorway leading to the bedroom. Lying on a small frame bed was his mother, not as he remembered her, but sickly, pale, and near death. She was sleeping, but awoke with a start when he sat down by her feet. "Janey?" she called out weakly, "William?" Suddenly her eyes focused on Racetrack and she gasped, eyes filling with tears…and fear. "Nikolas?" she gasped, "Am I dead?"  
  
"No, Mom," Race gave a weak smile and continued speaking softly, "You're not dead, Janey found me today and told me how you were doing."  
  
"She's so afraid," his mother murmured, clasping Race's hands in hers. "She's held this family together, but doesn't know how to be strong for herself. Now she's afraid I'll leave….but this will pass, and I'll go back to work…now that we're all together again….everything will be fine."  
  
Racetrack winced, reminded of his sister's ultimatum, clasped his mother in a tight hug that she seemed to take as an agreement.  
  
"Now," she said, "tell me about yourself, Nickolas. What have you been doing all these years?" She settled back to listen attentively.  
  
Race began telling her all about his life and for the remainder of the hour they sat and talked about things….Race as a child, his siblings, his family's life, anything at all they could talk about the did, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying.  
  
A little past the time he was suppose to have left, Race heard the door open, and Janey put her head in past the curtains. Race nodded and turned to his mother, "I'll be back again tomorrow," he said, lightly kissing her cheek as she fell back into the pillows, clearly exhausted.  
  
"Promise?" she asked weakly.  
  
"Promise." He replied, sweeping her into one last hungry embrace.  
  
As Janey closed the door to the room silently, he said, "I will be back tomorrow."  
  
"Returning has never been your strong suit, Racetrack," she said quietly, but firmly, "we'll see tomorrow, tomorrow."  
  
"Let me see Patrica and William," Racetrack pleaded the small figure standing before him.  
  
"No." she said firmly.  
  
"Why not?" Race cried, frustrated.  
  
"They're my responsibilities. I don't want them to be hurt, and the simplest answer is truly that I don't trust you with them. " Janey replied calmly, coldly.  
  
"What?!?!" Racetrack yelled, "that's ridiculous, what in the world do you think I'd do?"  
  
"Does it matter?" she replied. "The fact is," she continued, "that they are my charges and I will protect them with my life. Unfortunately for you, that also means that you will not see them until such a time that I trust you again." She snorted again, "and if I were you, I wouldn't expect it to happen anytime soon."  
  
Racetrack was floored. He hadn't expected to be denied the chance to see his younger siblings again. Especially not by one of them. He didn't understand, this was…..  
  
"Now, if you'll walk yourself to Manhattan, Boxer here, " she motioned to a rather large, heavily muscled figure who emerged from the shadows at the end of the hall, "will make sure you don't get lost." Motioning for Racetrack to proceed down the stairs, Janey followed behind Boxer.  
  
Once outside, Race turned to Janey, "What time should I be here tomorrow?"  
  
Narrowing her eyes, she replied, "If you can remember the way back, be here at noon, that'll give you two hours with Mom, but I'm not letting Patty or William near you for quite a while longer."  
  
"How long?" Race asked with pleading in his eyes.  
  
"Depends on how long it takes me to trust my own big brother again." With that parting shot, Janey motioned for Boxer to begin Race's escort to Manhattan. Once they were out of sight she raced towards the small school her brother and sister attended during the day.  
  
Later that night a glowing thought occurred to Racetrack: she hadn't told him he couldn't come back.  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
Days passed and Race spent two hours from noon to two of every one with his mother, who grew steadily worse as time passed. She told him everything that had happened during his absence, from the beatings, which she and Janey had completely assumed by hiding the younger ones, to Janey's jobs as a laundress and waitress, to Patrica and William's teacher's glowing note a few weeks prior raving about their amazing successes in school. He never really saw Janey, although she checked in at the beginning and end of his every visit, and definitely made sure that Boxer was there to walk him back to Manhattan.  
  
One day things were different, when he went to the apartment a new family had moved in, and they knew nothing about his mother or siblings. They told him to check in with the landlady to see if they had told her anything.  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
"Yeah, she gave me something to give to you," Mrs. Kapowalski said, "this is it." She handed him a piece of paper, folded into thirds.  
  
He opened it to see five cards fall to the floor, 3 7's and 2 jacks. The paper read, Nickolas, I'll meet you at the Horace Greenley statue at midnight tonight. Don't be late. Cursing loudly the whole time he was escorted out of the tenement on the end of Mrs. Kapowalski's broom, Race crumpled the note into his pocket and set out to Manhattan. 12 hours. 12 hours until he found out what his sister was up to now.  
  
Race was in a foul mood for those 12 hours too, snapping at Blink for a joke he'd made, scaring away Les because he reminded him of William, even telling Cowboy to shove off when the Manhattan leader asked if he wanted to play poker. The rest of the boys exchanged glances, and tried to stay out of the marauding Irishman. When the clock struck 11, Racetrack couldn't stand it any longer and bolted out of the Lodging House. Arriving at the statue he waited impatiently until 11:30, when he saw the first sign of life he'd seen all night. Some hooker and her pimp arguing in an alleyway….he scoffed it off and let his eyes roam in the other direction. Eventually they stopped arguing, he noticed offhandedly, as he was still watching for Janey.  
  
She emerged about ten minutes later…..from the same alley…and there was the pimp leaning against a building….but she wasn't wearing…..there was a bundle beside the pimp….oh no, Race thought. Out loud he said, "Janey, please tell me you're not a whore….tell me anything but that…." He trailed off, searching for an answer in her face.  
  
"Nickolas, three days after you left we started running out of money. So Dad sold my nights to Johnny, the guy over there. Boxer is his enforcer. I do not regret a damn thing about having to provide for my family." She said this all quietly, eyes locked on his the whole time. "Mom didn't know."  
  
"She's dead?" Race asked tremulously, not wanting any of it to be true.  
  
"Yeah. But thanks to you, she died happily, thinking we're all a family again." Janey smiled softly. "And thanks to her we'll get the chance to be just that."  
  
"Really?" said Race hopefully, "You'll let me be with you guys?"  
  
"Maybe." said Janey. "See the original plan for when Mom died was to just leave, not give you a second chance with us." She laughed quietly, disturbing Race for some reason. "But now, I'm giving you the same chance you gave me, one round of five-card stud. You win, you can come back with us. You lose, and its your turn to find us." She brought the cards out from her pocket and silently handed them to him.  
  
Race shuffled quickly, expertly dealing them each five cards. He unabashedly cheated, using every trick he had. Unfortunately, he hadn't prepared for this, and had no cards stashed up his sleeves. When it came time to lay down his cards, two pair, nines and jacks, he really thought he'd won.  
  
She laid down a royal flush.  
  
"That's impossible!" Race cried out, "You cheated!" He leapt to his feet, reaching out to grab Janey by the arm, only to find himself held in Boxer's viselike grip.  
  
Janey scoffed, "Nickolas, I waited for over 3 years for you to come back to us…now it no longer concerns me. Now I'm not the one that has to care, you have to find us." She leaned in close to his ear. "But don't worry big brother, I'll give you a hint….more than you gave us anyways…..we're all going home."  
  
"What?!….No!….Janey you have to tell me mo….JANEY!!" the last bit desperately screamed as Race watched his baby sister walk over to her pimp, pick up her working clothes, and walk away from him, taking his family with her. 


	2. 2

It had been six months since Racetrack had watched his sister walk out of his life, six months of searching every alley of New York and racing after any lead he could find. After yet another failed attempt, Racetrack threw his few remaining papers angrily to the floor of the Lodging House and curtly told Kloppman to use them for fuel for the fire. The other newsies eyed Racetrack warily as he paced the floor like a caged animal - today's lead had really seemed like something..until it turned out to be yet another broken family trying to get on the boat "back home" or looking in one of the many tenement buildings Race could remember from his (and Janey's) scattered childhood. Disgusted with himself for being so gullible when it came to his family, he flopped onto his bunk and folded his arms behind his head.  
  
Jack pushed himself away from the bedpost he'd been leaning on, listening to yet another of Mush's infamous nights. Cautiously he approached Racetrack, who'd been consumed with finding his family again. He still sold papers, if only because he had to earn money somehow, but if he stopped by the tracks, it was to talk to a source and as far as Jack knew, he hadn't played a single hand of poker since he'd lost to his sister. When he was in a particularly bad mood, like tonight, he'd even leave the room if somebody dared to start a game.  
  
"So where'd you go today?" Jack asked, wrapping and unwrapping his bandanna slowly as he talked.  
  
"Searched Hell's Kitchen in the morning, then hung around the docks after lunch until Spot's boys chased me away for selling in their territory." Race rubbed his hands over his face before continuing, "Spot himself wasn't too happy with me, just a warning if he comes to talk to you."  
  
Jack stifled a groan, "Thanks, I appreciate the heads-up." Then he steeled himself to broach the subject Race had avoided talking about since the night he'd come back to the Lodging House, bloodied up from his scuffle with Boxer and on the verge of tears with the hopelessness he'd felt through his very bones.  
  
"So did you have any luck looking for 'em?"  
  
Race stiffened, eyes going black with pain, "No.and Jack.I'm thinking I never will."  
  
Sensing his friend needed something, anything to keep him going, Jack sat at the end of Race's bunk and offered his help in searching.  
  
Race waved him off, "You helped earlier Cowboy, all the boys did.Janey's just too good. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they weren't even in the city anymore."  
  
Jack stood up, barely missing slamming his head into the upper bunk, "What makes you say they haven't left the city already?" he asked curtly.  
  
Race looked up, "Simple, we never lived anywhere else. Dad came through Ellis Island and never looked back, mom's family lived just outside of the city." He pulled his scuffed satchel out from the cabinet underneath his washbasin. Rifling through it he found a small sampler with some old embroidery on it. Upon a white background was a small blue house with red shutters and the words, "Family makes a house a home," while the address of a small village just outside of the city traced around the bottom.  
  
"This was one of the first places I looked. Nothing. My mother made this just before I ran away, and I guess I stole it on my way out to remember her or something. She used to say that as long as we stuck together, it wouldn't matter where we lived, because we'd make it home." He snorted and stuffed the sampler back in his satchel. "Janey was a real bitch telling me they were going home.she knew I'd never be able to figure it out."  
  
Jack grew thoughtful, "So you think she meant that as long as she, your brother, and your sister were together, they'd be 'home' and you had to search everywhere for them."  
  
Race nodded morosely, "Yea, guess she really didn't want to give me a chance after all, she just wanted me to suffer."  
  
Jack knitted his eyebrows together, trying to put everything together. He didn't honestly think Race's sister would have gone to all the trouble of meeting him that night just to get the final say in their lives. Of course, as he was constantly reminding himself, people change, so it was entirely possible that she'd done everything out of spite and cruelty. Suddenly he had a thought, "Race, you got any other family?"  
  
Race looked surprised at the thought, "Not really, dad never talked about anybody else and we never met anybody from mom's side. She told us that they were ashamed of her marrying an immigrant."  
  
Jack contained his impatience, "But they did exist, right?"  
  
Race shrugged, "Yeah, Cowboy, what's your point?"  
  
Jack sat back, triumphant, "You're the one always saying Janey is so smart, so why couldn't she have gone to stay with your mom's family?"  
  
"If they kicked our mother out, why would Janey have gone to stay with them?"  
  
Jack wanted to pull his hair out at Race's stubborn nature, "Race! She was working the streets! Anything's got to be better than that!"  
  
Slowly, comprehension dawned on Racetrack, "Mom always talked about how her and her sister were real close, so while she was alive, Janey probably got the address and asked if they could come up to stay with her. Mom being so sick must've stopped 'em from leaving while she was alive, but after, Janey probably had 'em hop the first train after midnight!" Leaping off his bed, Racetrack packed what few possessions he had into his satchel and raced out of the Lodging House, stopping only to pay Kloppman the for the few day's he'd owed him. He kept running until he'd reached the trainyards, where a few months earlier he'd hopped a train into his mother's old village. Hopping this same train, he remained hidden behind barrels of brine for a little over an hour. Finally recognizing the same village he'd stopped at before, he leapt from the car he was riding in and with a practiced roll, landed safely of to one side. Excitement and hope he hadn't felt in months surged through him as he ran into the town and up to the court clerk's office. Finding it closed, he searched the outlying buildings and, finding a wide set of stairs, promptly fell asleep, thankful for the residual heat of September and dreaming of holding his little siblings in his arms again. Although one particular dream that brought a smile to his face centered around boxing Janey's ears off...  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Awakened by the nudge of an boot against his side, Race blearily stumbled away from the irate businessman and focused his attention on the clerk's offices. Noticing a tall thin man in a dark business suit jangling his keys in front of the doors, he did a controlled rush up to the man and asked breathlessly, "Are you the clerk?"  
  
The thin man peered down at the scruffy looking young man standing at the bottom of the court steps, "Yes I am," he replied coldly, "Why do you need to know?"  
  
Racetrack calmed his breathing and tried to appear calm, "I'm looking for some my family, and the last address I have came from this town. The problem is they don't live here anymore and I was hoping to find out where they'd gone."  
  
The thin man sighed, "I'm very busy today, is there anyway you can come back in a week?"  
  
"No!" Race cried, then lowered his voice, slightly abashed, "I'm sorry, sir, but its very important that I find them as soon as possible and...and I'm not sure the money I have will hold me a week here."  
  
"Fine," the clerk groused, "Come along and I'll let you search through the town records, but only on the condition that you keep everything as organized as you find it! You'll be dealing with some very important records that I will not have out of place."  
  
"Yes sir," said Race breathlessly, bouncing on his toes with the burning excitement as he felt himself growing closer to his quarry.  
  
********************************************************************** Six hours later, he emerged weary, but triumphant from the stacks of old ledgers and housing records. He'd finally traced the address back through the years until he'd found his mother's name. She'd lived in the house for three years before getting married and her only sister had moved away after his grandparents had died several years prior. Although there had been no forwarding address, his aunt had married a man named Bryson in the town, (Race had found the marriage records), and to his delight, had discovered that the man's parents still lived in the same house they'd inhabited for twenty years.  
  
Quickly replacing his materials, he thanked the clerk and went into the town with two purposes on his mind, to visit the old couple, and to find some food. The latter he found at a small café, where the smell of homemade bread made his stomach rumble embarrassingly. The kindly woman behind the counter grinned at his dismayed expression and waved him on as he tried to pay for his sandwich. Tipping his slightly ragged hat in thanks, he forced himself to eat half and save the rest. Then he moved on in search of the address he'd found for his uncle's parents.  
  
Washing his face and hands in a small pond, Racetrack stared up at the house he'd found. Larger than the Lodging House, Race began to have second thoughts about simply marching up and asking for the location of their son. But remembering the dreams he'd so enjoyed the night before, he steeled himself to walk up to the front door and ring the doorbell. Another tall, thin, and vaguely imperious looking man opened the door, arching his eyebrows as he took in Racetrack's tattered appearance.  
  
Trying to force the street slang out of his voice, Race firmly asked to see the head of the house. The butler inched away from the door, barely allowing enough room for Race to pass, and led him inside.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
45 minutes later, Racetrack was not so cordially escorted out of the rear door to the mansion, sweat pouring from his brow and a dark scowl on his face. However, as soon as he'd left the property, that same scowl was replaced by a broad grin. His uncle's father had grilled him until he no longer knew what he was saying, eventually decided not to give Racetrack the address, and abandoned him in his richly furnished study with orders not to move until the butler had shown him the door. Angered by the blatant dismissal, Racetrack's eyes had scanned the papers littering the wide desk, until he saw a letter beginning with, "Father" snatching the envelope just as the butler appeared, he'd plastered a disappointed scowl on his face and allowed himself to be shown to the door.  
  
Smoothing the envelope he'd crushed against his side, Racetrack had run back to the trainyards almost giddy with excitement. The letter had come from a town about a two day's train ride away.....  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Wearily, Racetrack trudged up the dirt road he'd been directed too. His money almost completely spent, he'd have to find someplace to make a few cents just to make it back to the city. Rounding a bend he saw a large wooden frame house sitting up on a hill, with toys scattered all around a wide porch. There were glass windows with big white draperies behind them, and a tall stone chimney streaming white smoke. A familiar face was profiled behind those draperies, albeit a bit softer and fuller than he'd last seen it. As if knowing she was being watched, Janey turned to the window and stared out at him, clutching the base of the window for support. Suddenly she disappeared, and grinning, he ran up the rocky drive. Before he'd made it halfway up the door to the house flew open and two small figures rocketed out the door towards him. Hitting him at such force that he tumbled backwards, Patricia and William hugged him around the waist and neck with such force that he thought he'd die happy from lack of breath. Rolling them onto the grass, the three siblings tried to simultaneously hug, laugh, talk, and play. Eventually resulting in the two little ones pinning Race by sitting on his chest and legs, Race felt his very soul filling with the life he thought he'd lost that night over six months ago. Contented to lay in the warm grass, answering William's chattering questions, Patricia's shy ones, and asking some of his own, he was surprised when a grown woman kneeled down in the grass beside him. Sliding the two children into his lap, he sat up and held out his hand, "Nickolas Higgins, but my friends call me Racetrack."  
  
The petite woman took his hand in hers and shook it, "Your aunt, Nelly Bryson, its very nice to meet you" she said warmly.  
  
"Where's Janey?" asked Racetrack suddenly, looking towards the house expectantly.  
  
"Nickol..Racetrack," said his aunt, "When Janey came to us six months ago, she was beginning to show signs of being.with child."  
  
Paling, Race looked towards the window he'd seen Janey staring out at him from, "Is she ok?"  
  
His aunt smiled, "Yes, she's doing very well. Unfortunately children do pick the worst times to decide they want to come into this world and your niece or nephew decided you walking up our drive was his signal. Janey's just gone into heavy contractions, so will be in bed until her child arrives. I need to get back with her now, but if you'd like to keep Patty and William occupied for awhile, I'll come and get you if you're needed."  
  
Feeling helpless, Racetrack nodded mutely, and allowed himself to be pulled towards the toys his siblings wanted to show him. They were joined by another child, about four years old, and the group played until it had grown quite dark. Then they marched inside and the three children showed Racetrack around the bottom level of the house. They had all just settled in front of a large fireplace when a piercing scream erupted from the upper level.  
  
In one swift movement Racetrack was on his feet and running up the stairs towards the scream. Finding the door ajar he burst into the room to find his newborn nephew being cleaned and wrapped in a blanket by his aunt and another woman. Both women stared at him, but his attention immediately went to the pale, sweaty figure lying on the bed. Grasping her hand, he began stroking her wet hair and calling her name, "Janey? C'mon Janey, open your eyes."  
  
"No" she replied grumpily.  
  
Relieved, he sank his head on her bedsheets and offered up a quick prayer to whichever god had been with his sister throughout her ordeal. Grinning he looked up and into the eyes which had seemed so cold and hard to him only half a year ago, but now looked warm and accepting.  
  
"You found us." she whispered happily.  
  
"Yea," said Race, his tone then taking on a teasing tone, "and I was most upset to find my triumphant return upstaged by your son."  
  
"First thing we'll teach him to do is tell time so it never happens again." Janey grinned down at him.  
  
Race mock-frowned, "Well hopefully it'll never have to," he said, and just as Janey's eyes started to well with tears: "I doubt you're even able to give birth to him a second time."  
  
She laughed and the sound again filled Race's heart and soul with joy. Nelly then moved forward with the baby and placed it into Janey's arms. Race kissed her on the forehead, wrinkled his nose and whispered in her ear, "You stink little sis."  
  
She grabbed his hand, "You meant what you said about it never happening again?" She looked small...and scared. Race nodded, "I'll tie up some loose ends in New York and then we'll figure out something for me to do up here." Suddenly remembering his manners he turned to his aunt, "That is....um...if you don't mind me asking Au...um...Nel...um..Mrs. Bryson, would you object to me staying here until I find somewhere else to go?"  
  
Nelly laughed, "You can stay as long as you like Nickolas, you four are all I've got left of my sister, and there is nothing else quite like family to make a house a home."  
  
Race grinned with relief. "However," she continued, as he quickly stopped grinning, "my first request is that you and your sister both take care of one tiny detail."  
  
"What's that," he asked warily.  
  
"Go take a bath."  
  
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A bit cheesy, but I wanted some sort of "happily ever after." Sorry it took so long, but many thanks to those people who bugged me into remembering this was still on my computer. You know who you are. Please review! 


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